Distributed and cooperative object pushing by multiple mobile robots based on communication

This paper describes the implementation of distributed and cooperative object pushing by multiple mobile robots based on communication. In order to realize a multi-functional, flexible and robust robotic system, we adopted a concept of functional distribution and cooperation. We have been developing a distributed autonomous robotic system, ACTRESS, which is composed of multiple autonomous mobile robots and several workstations. In this paper, cooperation is classified into individual action and collaborating action, and both actions are executed by the actual mobile robots in task assignment, team organization and synchronized motion based on communication. To verify the functional effect, we have integrated these strategies into a cooperative algorithm, and have experimented with it by which multiple mobile robots accomplished cooperatively the object pushing. Finally, we show the experimental results.